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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385735">It’s brighter now</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/desiannabeth/pseuds/desiannabeth'>desiannabeth</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, percabeth, percabeth fluff, post - HoO</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:09:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>691</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385735</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/desiannabeth/pseuds/desiannabeth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The sun creeps into their room lazily, and Percy is more in love with Annabeth than he’s ever been. A short look at how they spend their mornings.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase &amp; Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>89</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It’s brighter now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I once was poison ivy<br/>But now I’m your daisy<br/>———————————</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Annabeth can be intimidating, Percy knows this. She's all steely glares and hard looks, determination personified with a death wish for anyone who dares crosses her. Hell, he'd been on the receiving end of her glares enough times to know that they were scary. But Percy can't quite believe it at this moment when she's asleep next to him, a look of serenity gracing her face. She's curled up next to him, retracted into a ball. It's something she picked up on the numerous quests they had to undergo as kids, it helped conserve heat then. And after all, old habits die hard.</p>
<p>Their previous mannerisms weren't the only things they carried with them to adulthood. Trauma, grief, pain, those things don't disappear overnight. The healing process is slow and the wound never closes fully, but somethings make it better, make it bearable, and for Percy it was the smile of the blonde-haired girl sleeping next to him.</p>
<p>"You're staring" she says, her eyes still closed; okay, the smile of the blonde-haired girl not sleeping next to him.</p>
<p>"I'm not staring, I'm gazing" Percy protests</p>
<p>"It's creepy"</p>
<p>"It's romantic" </p>
<p>She finally opens her eyes. Sticking her tongue out at him, she draws the pillow from under her head and pressed it onto her face, ensuring that Percy couldn't see it.</p>
<p>"Teaches you for being a creep" Annabeth's voice calls out, muffled by the pillow blocking her face.</p>
<p>Laughing, Percy settles deeper into their comforter. The sun streams into their room filtered by their curtains. The beams that do enter their room fall on Annabeth, making her skin glow in the golden light it exudes, in a way that makes Percy know that the sun rises for beautiful things. It rises for the flowers and grass on an early spring morning, the cerulean water with it curl of white that is the sea and the golden sand it embraces on a warm summer day, the leaves that crunch beneath a little kid's feet as she walks home from school on a cozy autumn evening, the fire that crackles and burns itself out to provide warmth on a cold winter night. And it rises for Annabeth. </p>
<p>They lay there, basking in their comfortable silence, wanting nothing more than each other's company. There's a certain something about mornings that Percy loves, they have no expectations, everyone spends their mornings differently. Percy, himself, spent his teenage years staying awake as the sun rose, keeping watch, staying on alert for monsters he couldn't have dreamt up even if he tried to. And now, at 22, he lies in bed with the love of his life, with the quiet confidence that their worst days are behind them.</p>
<p>Eventually, Annabeth squirms out of the mattress. She sits in the edge of the bed, and pulls her hair up into a bun. A few strands escape though and surround her face like a halo, adorning her in light. She eases herself out of the bed, before, grabbing her pillow and throwing it at the resting figure of her boyfriend.</p>
<p>"She finally wakes" Percy says, turning on his side to face her</p>
<p>"Says the guy who's still in bed"</p>
<p>A small grin appears on his face, "I just need some incentive, you know?"</p>
<p>"Well, I'm going to go shower and I'm open to you joining me"</p>
<p>And the smile she flashes at him is what heals him. It's what keeps him going, it's what soothes the pain. </p>
<p>And Annabeth can be intimidating, Percy knows this. She's all steely glares and hard looks, determination personified with a death wish for anyone who dares crosses her. But he also knows that it's not her choice, she was conditioned to be like that by a world that takes and takes and takes. And when it finally gave her something, she smiled and laughed and lit up his whole world. Now, she brightens the world with a glance and quietens his fears with a touch. </p>
<p>She used to sting and burn and hurt, but now she heals and cures and loves. After all, the sun who only rises for beautiful things, rises for her.</p>
<p>———————————</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on tumblr (@youcanbemytaylor)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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